What is taking so long in MLB free agency, trade market?

Cubs fans are understandably feeling a bit Scrooge-like this holiday season, with the team biding their time before making any sort of free agent moves. Leila Rahimi, Peter Marzano, Nate Poppen and James Neveau discuss the team’s quiet offseason and discuss whether they’re making a mistake in not being more aggressive in negotiating with players like Cody Bellinger or Matt Chapman. Later, the quartet discusses the trade market and whether the Cubs need to focus on pitchers like Shane Bieber or available position players to bolster their roster. Finally, the Cubs Convention and the absence of panels involving the Ricketts family and Crane Kenney is up for debate, and the crew throws some humorous ideas out to potentially spice up the yearly fan festival.

#ChicagoCubs #JedHoyer #codybellinger

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What is taking so long in MLB free agency, trade market?
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Hello and welcome to a new edition of the Cubs Talk podcast if only we had more to discuss joining us it’s a four-person show tonight we always love having that Peter Marzano from NBC Chicago and also NBC Sports Chicago digital he is here James Novo is here

Also from NBC Chicago the Big 10 country podcast and he the father of two cute cats who are behind him a they’re just snoozing happily like nothing’s wrong and then also Nate Poppin producer from NBC Sports Chicago he is here in the background is an ivy that looks a

Lot like the ivy in the background of my office not different I was gonna say there’s something I can’t quite put my finger on I think it’s the fact that you three are all sitting within about 15 square feet of each other at the tower and I’m way

Way way far away from you guys oh James I had to be with my happily snoozing Cats all of this is more action than the Cubs have taken this week although I guess we should start with the uh the latest news which is actually roster based because the Cubs did actually make some movement that’s of no offense to J Al Faro it just isn’t exactly the uh the

Worldl beating move we thought we were going to get the note that came down earlier today and the day we are taping this is on a Thursday is about the Cubs making some minor league deals inviting spring training invites for catchers Joe Hudson J Al Faro as we mentioned and a

Left-handed pitcher Thomas penon so guys I successfully summarized the uh the Cubs offseason so far since the winter meetings have happened oh it’s not funny what do we think about this is we also await the news about Yamoto and the fact that it just came down within the hour that supposedly the

Giants are out for Yos NOA Yamamoto do we believe it where’s everybody sitting with everything um I’m gonna start in the office James I’m sorry I’ll start with Nate yeah I mean I didn’t expect there to be like you know this situation where they fixed everything and you know

During the winter meetings and this wasn’t going to be some overnight like oh look at us we we got Bellinger we we got snow we got like what it wasn’t going to happen overnight uh I just don’t want it to be getting into mid January uh late January and we still

Have a bunch of question marks with this team because if you’re G to be honest like I I’m wholeheartedly behind bringing back baller but you have to do more than that uh much more than that cuz that just gets you back to uh you know square one with the offense and

Then you have to you know take into the account that you still have to add something to this pitching staff uh with the subtraction of Marcus strowman although you know you know the numbers in the second half speak for themselves but you still have to uh you know take

Into account the uh the first half success and there’s still an awful lot of things on the Cubs wish list here uh as we get closer to the holidays right around the corner here and uh I was I forone was expecting at least one or two

You know uh larger moves than just a a backup utility catcher here uh than than what we’re getting right now not you know not to be you know you can never have too much too much catching depth but uh that’s not exactly the headline uh mover that I was that I was

Anticipating so far here and then Peter taking me forever to unmute as always I mean yeah I mean I I Echo a lot of what Nate had to say it’s just you can’t you can’t get excited about any of the moves that have happened so far in

This off season and I understand that like this offseason is not like last offseason where we have this barrage of deals in mid December you know dubbers and and Bogarts and the Cubs made the big move for Dansby Swanson as well outside of OT which we all thought would

Be the spark plug to a bunch of contracts being signed in a short amount of time like that just hasn’t happened and I think a big part of that is that Scott boras who not just you know has Cody Bellinger but also is the agent of another Cubs Target and Matt Chapman he

Has shown in the past that he is very content with dragging the market on to late January onto February if his clients are not getting you know what he believes that they deserve and I mean this is somebody that is excellent at their job and has been for decades so

You know you have to take that into account when you’re evaluating the market as a whole and I know that like I’m you know not going to Proclaim right now that the Cubs off season is a failure but I will say that if we get to

Opening day and the Cubs are not the clear favorite in a weak national league central then the off season is definitely a failure because there’s still so many areas that this team needs to improve on and while yeah you always need more catching depth you always need

More Bullpen depth you’re going to take flyers on those guys there needs to be a major league move made and I think that within the next couple weeks especially after the holidays we’re going to start to see that acceleration inevitably it’s going to happen before opening day where

Guys are finally going to start signing with who they’ll play for next year and the Cubs are gonna have to make some smart bets on how to improve their team and just as Nate said I’m I’m with you like you bringing back Cody Bellinger should be a priority for this team this

Off season but that just brings it back to the 83 and 79 team that Miss playoffs last season and that’s also not counting that Marcus strowman was outstanding in the first half of the Season you know before he got injured now he’s obviously opted out of his contract and will not

Be back with the Cubs next year so I mean I really want to see some moves being made soon I’m not at the point where I’m calling the offseason a failure as I’ve said but I am at the point where I’m pretty nervous about what the Cubs are doing this offseason I

Do want to see some action at some point soon whether it’s you know you know make the move on reys Hoskins I feel like you know just making sure that there’s some sort of improvement to this lineup to have another Power bat in there to add you know whether it’s a fourth out

Fielder or more Bullpen dep or another starter in rotation there’s opportunities to improve this team across the board and it just hasn’t happened yet I I see the thing that I always kind of keep coming back to is that I I could be very critical of the Cubs not making

A move yet but the reality is is that what we’ve had had probably one of the top seven or eight at least free agents assigned so far I mean it’s not like there’s been as you guys said a flurry of activity with these guys we’ve had showy Otani go to the Dodgers as

Everybody kind of assumed that he would but outside of that they’re just really hasn’t been a lot of movement anywhere and I think there’s probably a lot of factors that play with that I think there is some of the Scott Boris uh black magic that Peter was talking about

But I would also probably point out that the uncertainty about television deals with a lot of different teams involved with uh balet Sports Diamond Sports Group has kind of jumped in and kind of perhaps started to grease the wheels a little bit on that but that uncertainty

Around TV money and kind of the effect it’s going to have on operating budgets I think is something that you really can’t kind of Overlook in terms of like a reason why the Market’s been so slow to develop and on the Cody Bellinger front I do want to kind of pose a

Hypothetical to you guys because I see a lot of folks who were kind of saying like why haven’t the Cubs just gone out and signed Cody Bellinger and to that my retort at this point is why would they seemingly bid against themselves right because you had the Yankees kind of

Immediately take themselves off the board as a a destination for Cody Bellinger you really haven’t seen a team like the San Francisco Giants really clamoring to go grab him especially after some of the moves that they’ve made so who’s that going to end up leaving you with like the Toronto Blue

Jays it seemed like they were willing to take out all the stops to sign sh Otani I have not seen anywhere near that level of urgency to potentially go and get Cody Bellinger and so if that’s the case that market for him dries up relatively

Quickly and I know there was a lot of talk earlier in the offseason he was potentially going to get $275 million $300 million was going to be the second bat behind Otani that doesn’t feel like that’s where the market is for him right now and so I think from the Cubs

Perspective yeah reunion with him makes sense and I think to Nate’s Point yeah it basically is just going to get you back to square one but at the same time why shell out a bunch of money you don’t have to in order to make that deal get

Done like I’m not saying he’s not going to sign a big money extension or whatever I’m just saying that perhaps it wasn’t as crazy as we thought and I think the Cubs are maybe trying to avoid a scenario where they would be kind of bidding against themselves and I think

That’s why we’re starting to see kind of this agitating by Scott Boris to try to get this process moving along because I think he knows that’s what the Cubs are doing they’re kind of taking a calculated view of this well I also think that uh in the concept of you

Don’t have to tell certain people to have a good time I feel like you don’t have to hint to Major League Baseball owners that they don’t have to spend money they’re going to use this uh they’re going to use this uncertainty in the market to their advantage they were

Probably waiting for this especially given what we all as a collective don’t know and we have pretty educated viewpoints on it similarly Bley Sports which is the real Crux of the issue here Diamond LLC or Diamond Sports Corporation however you look at it uh the NHL just ruled that the 11 hockey

Teams that are a part of those balet regionals will stay on balet at least this season so we are seeing some movement there that might give us an indication but after we already saw the Padres have to take back their TV deal the Diamondbacks have to take back

Theirs and of course the Diamondbacks maybe playing with a physically larger market and then be the World Series bump that they had for attendance and we know that the Padre’s as we saw with Juan SoDo are in a sellers market so I think that that that changed and set the

Market in a lot of ways I worry that this is similar to 2019 in more ways than one we talked about the waiting game with Bryce Harper and Manny Machado and how long we waited to see those contracts come to fruition and then everything else was so slow I think it

Might be the same way now that sh Otani is off the books Yamamoto changes it a little bit but when it comes to everybody else it it really does seem as slow as molasses and I’m with you to me there’s a couple of uh there’s a couple

Of canaries in the coal mine here regarding Bellinger number one Scott Boris willingly appeared on inside the clubhouse on 67 the score two hours earlier than that show airs because he lives on the west coast on a Saturday morning Scott Boris isn’t getting out of bed on a Saturday morning

Early unless it’s to try to make some money so to me him talking about Bellinger and just being available not to only talk about Bellinger but the market and his other clients is an indicator of him trying to shop positively and then the other one is sorry I’m getting over a lovely sinus

Infection I know I’m not the only one the other piece of this is is that Cody Bellinger as you guys mentioned can’t be it because given the Cubs losing Marcus strowman and his production that helped get them to be viable at the trade dead line to be

Buyers they need more they need a lot more who the heck is at third base guys if the team is done today if they don’t make any more moves who’s the third base Christopher Morell yeah probably it’s probably Morel but we’re hearing that he’s getting a lot of reps possibly

At first base right that’s also been discussed it just seems like he’s getting a lot of corner infield work in the uh Dominican league but frankly I think that’s a good thing for his development for the Cubs because I think the big knock on him last season was he

Was a man without a position right like that was kind of the knock but the Cubs showed last year like we and I do say we and I think that it’s fair to do so we all were skeptical of Nick madreal stepping into third base and being able

To play that role well defensively he did it so if that’s something that if we’re g to base kind of our feeling on how the Cubs are identifying talent in that way I suppose we have to give him a little bit of a benefit of the doubt if

They think that he’s going to be able to go down to the Dominican get that skill set to a point that it needs to be that he at least gives them a potential option at third base although I think it’s pretty I I I would struggle to

Think that that’s just going to be the guaranteed way they’re going to go about it it’s at least an option that they’re going to consider and again maybe we have to give them a little bit of a benefit of the doubt for that based on how everything worked out with Nick Madrigal last

Season yeah and I mean I I also feel like the tools with Christopher Morell are definitely there I mean we see he has an incredible arm there were a few plays when he was in the Outfield this year where he showed flashes of that capability and you know I think it

Doesn’t hurt to make sure that you know you have a young talented player who has experience playing across a diamond this is something that the Cubs have done for the better part of the last decade we saw it with Javier Bas we saw it with

Ian ha earlier in his career it’s just a part of building versatility of course eventually hoping that you find that permanent defensive home for him and I honestly also think that that’s another reason that the Cubs could potentially look for a DH or fourth Outfield type bat is to give him more opportunities

Kind of force the hand make sure that he’s playing in the field more and then kind of incre his value and meaning to the team if he’s able to be a big defensive contributor on top of what we know he can do with the bad I mean this

Is a guy that I think you know I would imagine all of us would believe that he’s capable of hitting 40 home runs in a season at some point in his career that’s a kind of talent that you want to get out of him and you know finding a

Guy like that a spot in the field where he can be at least manageable I think should be it a inhouse priority for the Cubs this offseason I I think the bottom line for me on Mor is that you look at what that offense comprised of last season there’s

Only two guys with higher Ops pluses than him and you can’t you can’t argue like oh well he’s he’s obviously earned more playing time he’s obviously earned you know more more than 107 games that that we saw you know this this past season I I I don’t think that sends a good

Uh message to the rest of the the the Cubs farm system their younger players to go well you know this this is a merit-based operation here and then to kind of cast off Morel as like oh he doesn’t have a position like give him give him the shot

At at either first or third or or both and do some type of platoon system there that’s fine um but his Bat needs to be in the lineup I mean it it’s it’s it’s to the point now where if if you don’t have a a Bellinger I mean where where

Where is the power coming from you know on this Cubs team I mean they they both finished with 26 homers I I I I tend to think back to uh Leela’s prediction last last off season Bellinger probably finishes with 35 if he’s if he’s healthy healthy all season um I said

30 well I mean you know 30 35 it’s right right around that range it’s just what is what does a full season Full Slate of like 140 games from Morell look like then if if he if he finished at 26 so I I don’t know I I I love the idea of

Him getting more playing time and getting that chance at third base especially since there’s no obvious Solutions out there besides maybe a Chapman which you’re gonna you GNA pay handsomely for kio’s already gone to the to the Reds so that’s not you know not that he would have been a priority but

Yeah there’s there’s a lot of there’s a lot to love there with with them giving maybe more opportunities to a young bat like that A versatile player um and then that all but then on the other end of that that takes away versatility from your bench and that was one of the

Strengths of the team last year too so it it’s I don’t know I I I I think with the with the whole like we’ve been talking about with Bellinger like that’s the bare minimum to me that and and furthermore he signed last year uh on December 14th um which and if you go

Back to uh I think Peter mentioned Dan V Swanson that was December 21st if we want to go back to the most famous One John Lester December 15th Jason Hayward December 15th strowman December 1st that was kind of a weird year after Co though

But I mean yeah not to harp on the the lack of you know action here but there there historically have been a lot of big name um needle needle moving moves done by the Cubs by this time and I I struggle with to think that they’re going to get

Anything done before Christmas here I did want to point out one other thing just for the sake of our listeners that the Cubs we’ve kind of talked about how Outfield heavy their um Prospect system is I do have to point out that BJ Murray and Jake Slaughter could potentially be

Up by the end of next season or the beginning of 2025 and so this isn’t a pipeline bereft of options at third base it’s just they’re not like opening day ready and so I think that even if they don’t get Matt Chapman perhaps you just

Get a guy that can kind of fill that gap for a year or two and then odds are one of those guys based on their hitting profiles and the way they’ve been kind of ascending through the Cubs minor league system one of those guys could potentially fill that spot so I think

Perhaps that could be an explanation of like not wanting to like lock somebody up long term at third base if you’re the Cubs or heck you know what they may end up screwing me over with that and going and signing Alex bregman when he’s a free agent who the heck knows just

Throwing it out there I mean that’s it right that’s kind of the wild card is we all thought that when they signed Craig Council that this was going to be the Arbiter of a whizbang off season and then everything we heard pre-winter meetings indicated that they were in in

On them now James you called it from years ago and we all kind of agreed with you that the most like Landing place for sh Otani indeed was the place he landed in the Dodgers I too would rather choose Los Angeles over Orange County however it just created this idea

That we were going to be in a much more competitive Viewpoint with them when it came to who they were in on and what the vision was and now I feel like the discussion has become us trying to figure out okay who’s on this team if

Nobody comes back and it also just leads me to think about starting pitching do you think that you saw enough out of the candidates that we discussed All Season who got sent back down to the minor leagues do you think that they’re ready to help bolster that starting rotation

Still in need of an Ace and still in need of probably a solid number three to to Justin steel that’s of no offense to Jameson tyion it’s just observing the the picture as a whole when you’re trying to figure this out not to mention you need a close

Like Cody Hoyer quietly leaves this roster and the glass now traded to me we saw it coming but it just put me in a little bit more of a I wouldn’t call it panic mode but I wouldn’t not call it that either because pretty much now it’s

It’s down to you trying to either figure out are you signing for a guy like Blake Snell or are you g to try to trade for a guy like Shane Bieber and would that leave you enough Prospect Capital to trade for a guy like Pete Alonzo and per perhaps Josh Naylor now becoming

Available in discussion or at least being thrown out there as well whoever wants to chime in let’s go I do want to point out the Guardians are one of three teams that did not resolve their contract issue with bdiamond and so they could end up having to dump Shane Bieber

For strictly money reasons and that could benefit the Cubs like that’s the I do that’s the only cavat you kind of have to throw out with um any sort of concern about them having to give up way too much to go get a Bieber so now that

I’ve set the table for that we can let uh Peter and Nate kind of fight over who gets the first Turkey Leg I mean yeah he’s pointing at me yeah I mean I I guess a big thing that you also have to consider with the Cubs front office in their approach to this

Offseason is we’re talking about a large portion of the league that has a lot of questions about TV money and a lot of uncertainty regarding the rsns this should theoretically put the Cubs in a great position on the free AG Market they do not have these problems and this

Is something that James mentioned earlier you know you would think that this is something that the business side of the Cubs would want to make sure that is out there you know for everybody to see that the Cubs are not one of the franchises that are dealing with these

Issues because of Marquee but you know you could Pat themselves on the back you know for that but at the same time this should put them in a position to be one of the most aggressive teams spending on this free agent market and I think a lot

Of it is what Lea said this does Fe like 2019 and that there there were those two Mammoth contracts it took until well into the winter until we figured out what was happening and I know James has mentioned this in podcast before you know we went into that offseason

Thinking that the Cubs are going to be serious players for Bryce Harper they weren’t even an afterthought at the end of the day and I think that that has kind of you know continued offseason after offseason has to been something that the Cubs have just not shown that

They’re really willing to punch at that top level of the free agent market and I completely understand Jed hoyer’s approach and that you know you want to you maybe prefer the higher average annual value deals over the super longterm deals you don’t want to pay a

Guy until he’s 40 but at the same time you know the market is not running on Jed hoyer’s preferences and if you want to get the topof the line Talent you’re unfortunately probably going to have to make what will maybe be considered one day A bad signing you know you’re going

To have to overpay for somebody that’s just a reality of the free agent Market that you know we have today and I think when you’re looking at the starting rotation which the Cubs are in desperate need of improving I would think you know you have Justin steel Jameson tyion and

Kyle Hendrick set for next year I think that you need to add two starters to the Team One Way or Another to be in a good position with your rotation and that’s not even counting the fact that you have a bullpen that completely ran out of gas

In the last month of the season and clearly need some addition as well and look the good news for the Cubs is that these options are all still out there I mean I know we were talking about the comparisons to last offseason how the Cubs had already made all these moves

And offseason’s pass they had but I think with this offseason being similar to that offseason going into the 2019 season when a lot of guys are remaining unsigned you know as James said earlier I don’t think that you can harp on the cubs too much for their approach with a

Guy like Cody Bellinger but at the same time there needs to be some sort of aggression to improve this roster because these guys are not going to stay available forever somebody’s going to force hand I think with a guy like Cody Bellinger I would not rule out the Los

Angeles Angels as a team who could come out of nowhere and scoop him up considering that they were clearly willing to put all the money on the table for sh Otani they’re likely desperate to try and find something to salvage a years that they have remaining

With Mike Trout that seems like a move that they can make and the Cubs have to be ready for those teams that you know are going to be willing to overpay and and maybe have that money you know waiting aside so it’s it’s going to be tough but

Yeah I’m not completely panicking yet but you know the we’re going to need to see some moving pretty soon yeah I’ll I’ll uh kind of echo Peter there and throw out another team that might be interested in Bellinger like the Phillies are pretty much okay with letting ciano’s walk right so are

They are they gonna be in play for another Outfield bat like they love Lefty power they love you know former Cub left-handed uh Power hitters so yeah I mean could be a possibility too but back to the the starting pitching you know you you mentioned the three names

And then you have obvious obviously options like Assad you know Jordan Wicks where are we at with Ben Brown uh is he is he targeted for maybe trying to win a job out of spring training with this team but you can’t be going into a season where you’re

Supposed to be you know contending for a division Crown thinking oh yeah we’re going to we’re going to throw a couple couple rookies or seconde players out there and just see where see where things wind up you do need to go out and pounce on you know either a Bieber trade

Or uh you know Montgomery or signing or or something along those lines just that moves the needle you you can’t you know as Peter said it might look bad in a couple years it might look bad in in two three years like who who cares like the

The the worst quote quote uh MoneyWise signing the Cubs of probably ever made was Jason Hayward and you and you still won a World Series even though the production was never there the swing never got fixed y y all that stuff um those are the types of things you have

To do sometimes as a as a GM and president of baseball operations to kind of set up your team for more success like it the options are there in in the system at at starting pitcher but I I just don’t I don’t feel confident going

Into a season with you know on paper uh with James tyion as your as your second best option because you can’t expect the same output of out of Kyle Hendricks this year so if you if if Steels year one and Ty’s more of a three or a four

But if he’s your def facto two Assad all these all these other guys are are just fours and fives until they actually prove something you don’t really have an ace like Justin Steel’s great it’s that that’s fine but it he’s not a proven dude like like a Bieber like like

Even even Montgomery this last season there there’s there’s just so much out there right now that you could still go out in in a choire that I I I think it’s inexcusable for them maybe even more so than than Bellinger because there might be other suitors that we’re not thinking

Of there too um and the and the price might just be too high but there’s this glut of availability out there right now at starting pitcher I just that might even be a worse uh non-m move than than uh letting Bellinger walk for me I um I think that if they let

Bellinger walk at this point you’ve got to do some real damage control like you have to show me exactly what your plan is not only for your your starting nine like that that lineup which we all knew needed some real help and mainly some consistent Slug and knew it wasn’t

Coming from the team that was on the field but you’re also going to have to show me your plan for starting pitching are we back to the live and die by the sword two to one ball games where you’re just hoping to get everybody you can who pitches to contact and hoping that

That’s going to bring you home and then additionally like there’s there’s got to be more answers than what we’re seeing because they have so so many needs they have Bullpen need they have starting pitching need they have starting you know position player need so I just it it’s Troublesome to think about

What happens if they don’t get them and what they say their plan is and they do have a lot of Prospect Capital but I think at some point with some of these players if you want to be a real Contender you know that you can’t bring

Them all up like you have to keep some of them in the minor leagues to not only have maybe most perceived value but also in case you do need them to trade or you do need to make a call up at a certain time of the Season like they did last

Year and I guess that’s the other piece of this is what is the plan for peow Armstrong what is the plan for Alexander Canario I guess there’s something you’re not telling us about how you see those guys fitting into this team well I mean the big question is how

Will Craig Council approach those guys I think that he’s kind of made it he made it a point when he was was the Brewer manager that he was able to kind of work different guys into the lineup you saw immediately as soon as they went out and

Picked up Josh Donaldson last season for example that was a guy that he immediately found a spot for in the lineup I feel like that’s something that Craig counil has kind of had a Hallmark for over the course of his career with the Brewers has been that ability to

Kind of spin the best out of a bad situation and to kind of find the right pieces to plug into the right spots even if they didn’t have the financial Capital to go out and paper over every single Gap in their roster with free agents and I that’s not to say the Cubs

Are going to look at him to do that I think it’s a very similar thing to the way Joe Madden operated when he was with the Tampa Bay Rays and then how he operated when he was with the Cubs he had to make doe with a lot of different

Challenges down in Tampa Bay came to Chicago they treated him they treated him the right way they gave him a big Market club and he re he reciprocated by getting them to the NLCS in three consecutive Seasons I think that you know we’re I I still think we are too

Early in the off seon to say that the Cubs are going to be content with Craig Council being the top acquisition that they make I just every like every time we like kind of go through the list of like these potential options to fill gaps in this roster I just I keep coming

Away with the same conclusion which is that all of the options are still there like it’s not like the Cubs have been passed by the ship has not passed the Cubs by just yet I definitely am concerned that I’m not like hearing them linked to some of these players like I

Have no idea why they wouldn’t have been harder in on yoshinobu Yamamoto like I don’t understand that kind of thing but I also completely understand if the plan ultimately is to go after a guy like a Shota and managa or there is a plan to go out and get a Shane Bieber I

Understand that it’s just like I think the quiet is starting to kind of drive us all nuts but I will say that there’s like that kind of part of me that keeps buoying with optimism because a lot of these moves still have not been made yet

A lot of the options are still out there and so against you know my normal um course of action where I just love to panic about everything I still feel like I keep coming back to a sense of equilibrium about this I suppose boo food to your reasonable

Take uh we will we will certainly revisit this topic as long as it is one during the off seon so it’s going to change we’ll adjust our takes as the facts change because that’s what reasonable people do and we will also have some hot takes because that’s what

I do and uh you know life is fun like that so there is there is some actual concrete news that happened this week regarding the Cubs and that is Cubs convention we found out that not only did tickets go on sale but we figured out some of the panels and the big note

That we were talking about you guys kind of alluded to it earlier is the fact that the Rick family and the business panel slash business panel Andor business panel however you want to look at that is not going to be part of the program this year and the claim was that

Fans did not rate it highly now I kind of wonder if fans didn’t rate it highly because they didn’t like the news that came from it or if they didn’t rate it highly because they didn’t like it but to me it was always the most news making part of cubs convention

So that was uh that was kind of interesting to hear the other note that I thought was valid was autographs are gonna be first come first serve now so uh I worry that that is gonna cause some fights if uh some social sparklers have

Been had but we we do see a couple of notes out of Cubs convention James I know you are one of the people working on uh those stories this week for NBC Chicago what were your takeaways do you really l you wanted me to have a hot

Take earlier you said like that you know oh well reason takes boo boo you know what my hot take is Craig Kenny or King Kenny why aren’t you taking your Victory lap Bro you’ve got your sparkly TV network that’s you know funded with the money you don’t have to worry about the

B diamond stuff you’ve got this they have an app now you can just buy the app on your on your own you literally have a direct consumer option you literally have a sports book open next to the ballpark you have fundamentally changed the entire camp around Wrigley Field

Come brag about it bro like yeah take a little bit of heat from fans but all you have to say is Boom look at all of this I am successful Bring It On haters suck it and he doesn’t want to do it like that to me just completely boggles my

Mind that they don’t want to do that the other thing I will point out by the way is that first come first serve autograph thing I don’t like it not a not a fan of that either but um yeah I think that ultimately like the convention is always

A really fun time I do love that they’re leaning more into the artifacts and kind of History elements of it this year seemingly I think that is a really good decision I think that revisiting the 1984 Cubs and 2016 Cubs like those are that’s something you’re always gonna

Have to do at a fan convention to be like going to a bears convention like they’d better have a panel on 1985 right like that’s kind of ultimately where I would stand with that so I think there’s a lot that was good about it the the

Rickets thing like I’ll take it or leave it whatever like it’s not like they’re gonna you know they’re all they’re going to do is be like oh well we understand if you’re mad about X Y and Z but we assure you we’re working towards it’s

Like I don’t need that in my life I will point out by the way Tom Ricket it’s like bro you’re gonna spend money saving the PGA Tour but you’re not gonna you know invest a bunch of money into the onfield product yet with the Cubs come on get your priorities in order rickets

All right I’m off my golf Soap Box um that that’s that for me I I think the biggest thing to Echo James uh the autograph process not being vouchers anymore just doesn’t really make sense to me unless you somehow have some in inside roads on uh on secondary Market autographs

Because that’s the guys that are pretty much going to wind up getting the autographs it’s going to be autograph hounds that are going to flip them on eBay and that’s what’s going to happen and cubs fans wind up paying more for for their favorite players uh signatures

And you know less less kids wind up getting stuff and I think that that should be what autographs are for AO autograph Seekers should be kids and shouldn’t be grown ass men who who have really nothing better to do uh with a Friday Saturday Sunday uh in a uh frigid

Environment as the uh the hotel that they’re hosting at but that’s just me uh I think it’s it’s probably the weakest move out of out of all the moves or non- moves that they made uh so far here for for the Cubs convention as far as what they’ve announced so far Peter before

You I’m sorry Peter I do have to I have to yell at Nate about something real quick oh it should be about the kids for autographs you know what these kids have not lived with the disappointment of cubs fandom like we have let them learn some disappointment Nate to paraphrase

Some great quotes F them kids love it that’s another perspective that’s great oh I love that don’t let Zach hample here this conversation is all I have oh yeah not a fan of him actually what about the Zach hample off Market dupe that was the dude from uh Milwaukee

Remember that guy he was like the the sample was that his name yes pample max power I think was his name he like wore a neon Brewer shirt like hit the dab when he got like a I want to say it was like an Avi Garcia home run at a Socks

Game and I was like bro this is not the flex you think it is Lila hating on people having fun film at 11 oh yeah yeah that’s yeah he was like ripping the ball out of children’s hands like I hope you enjoyed your Avi Garcia home run there there’s a history of that

Here too hey Peter talk after all of this now you know what it would actually Jazz up Cubs convention if like Danny Rockets band played or something and maybe you just recreate the bleachers and like bring everybody I would be into that also did we ever look at the Cubs record

Since the wedding in the bleachers I feel like that’s when everything fell off I thought Lea was gonna say they they should just recreate adults stealing balls from kids like that was where I thought she was going I’m glad that I’m glad that’s not the point she was making yeah that was a

Game at Cubs everybody sit around and watch survival the F yeah tries to steal that would teach some lessons actually right there it would be like adult versus group of 10 kids and then somebody would hit the ball how many eth grade dubs fans can you beat up at once yeah that’s that’s

The question right most people land at like eight you know this is this is definitely nist Cubs convin were at in the off seon huh when your big acquisition is or aloh you gotta have something to gives you Joy it kind of mirrors mirrors the off season in a

Way I do you think that they make a a move before Cubs convention I would have to think I mean it would be really tough to face the fans at that point after last year if no move is made until then um but we’ll see well yeah like who would be the first

Person that they would Trot out like usually they have the parade of play of of players or former players or whatever it is like who’s gonna headline that if they don’t go out and and and bring back Binger or make a move that’s kind of ridiculous right here’s everybody Doug tozo oh

Boy yeah I mean I I I don’t even know what to think it is tough to you know to imagine who is going to be like trotted out as as The Shining Cub like if in the event of no major acquisition until then um I I I can’t say I have any major

Thoughts on the autograph uh change but I mean yeah with with no rickets panel as much as you know fans may have you know said that they don’t like the panel I’m kind of with Leela I think it maybe had more to do with them not liking what

Tom Ricket said of course with the with the questions that come up every time he does the panel regarding Sammy Sosa um I am of the generation of cubs fans and Baseball fans in general that would not be into baseball would not care about

The sport if it was not for you know the Rejuvenation of the game in the late 90s and early 2000s and specifically what Samy Sosa was to the Cubs during that period of time I mean not just the 1998 season I look at his 2001 season 64

Homers 160 driven in a 328 batting average truly one of the most insane offensive Seasons uh in our lifetime so I I mean I think that there has to be some level of understanding from the organization why there is that level of angst among fans regarding Samy Sosa is

That he was uh the gateway to Cubs fandom for so many people who got to cherish that 2016 Championship that’s going to be celebrated at the convention along with many fans who saw their interest rejuvenated in the 90s after being heartbroken by that 1984 team that will also be honored at the convention

So uh just kind of a full circle moment there but it it should be good and hopefully we’ll have a lot more to talk about by that time do you guys think David Ross makes an appearance at Cubs convention or no he’ll just be angrily standing outside with time that said give me

Money I’ll give you hot takes or something is that what you’re saying 2016 who’s gonna be on that panel yeah that is that’s a great question I mean especially when you got guys working for other teams now like Jason hayward’s making more money for the Dodgers than

Show he Otani this year Chris Bryant is a Colorado Rocky Anthony Rizzo is a Yankee how dare you be smge the legacies of guys like Ben zobrist who will surely be part of that panel oh yeah he will probably lacky and Lester too I bet Lester Travis

Wood yeah okay that’s a good panel that’s a good panel is he gonna wear the vest f is probably a part of that panel right oh well yeah he absolutely Dexter will be part of it he’ll be fun he’s enjoyable no that’s gonna be probably the highlight of of

The convention for most people I think I mean that in the 84 panel I would I would just guess that in the abject cruelty towards children those are gonna be the few things I look forward to but the yeah it’s the uh the professional wrestling aspect of Cubs

Convention just you know lean into it basically I I fully Ador just bust in and like pushes everybody away I fully endorse the nihilist Cubs convention like I am a thousand per on board with this you know what’s gonna happen and you know who’s goingon to notice players players will 100% notice

If somebody does that stuff they won’t say anything because they don’t talk bad about people but I do and I know the one someone of them is gonna notice if that happens in these things they’re not hockey players Leila they have personalities they do I think they’re

Just more diplomatic than I am uh on that note does anybody have anything else they would like to say as we conclude this episode of like sein feldi and cubs Talk podcast episode you’ll die someday eat it Arby’s bring it back eat G noaz or else yeah to Echo James bring back ni

Starby on Twitter I’m all good with that yes yes Peter I’m good ruin Peter’s day he’s like why did I agree to this nonsense because we’re all here except James uh that is going to do it for this edition of the Cubs Talk podcast as always if you’ve made it this far we

Really do appreciate you please rate and subscribe it means a lot to us and hopefully we have something more to talk about soon until then thanks for joining us on this one